Typewriting machine



March 31. 1925.

C. HERRMAN TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed March 31, 1922 Patented Mar. 31,1925.

UNITED STATES 1,531,935 PATENT OFFICE.

CHAR-LES HERRMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO UNDERWOOD TYPEWRITERCOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A CORPORATION OF DEL-AWARE.

TYPEWRITING MACHINE.

Application filed March 31, 1922. Serial No. 548,282.

To all 207mm 2']: may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES HERRMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing in New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in TypewritingMachines, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to rolls for holding work-sheets to theplaten of a typewriting machine. More particularly, the inventionrelates to rolls of this class, which are usually associated with, orform part of, resilient, marginal papenfingers or clips for guiding thework-sheets across the print ing line, and for holding the sheets flaton the platen at and just beyond the printing line; such fingers orclips being usually adjustable lengthwise of the platen according to thewidth of the sheet, card or envelope to be held thereby.

For a clean-cut, uniform impression of the type, it is important thatthere be no bulging or crumpling of the paper at the printing line; thepaper should be fiat and smooth on the platen where the printing isdone. The stock being printed on may, however, be so stiff as to have atendency to bulge, or it may be so light as to crumple readily; thuscausing trouble and uncertainty in the attainment of the desired fiatand smooth setting of the work-sheet on the platen.

An object of the present invention is the provision of means for causingthe rolls of the clips to draw laterally outward on the margins of thework-sheets to flatten the latter against the platen at the printingline.

A further object of the invention is the provision of means whereby thelateral pull or strain of the rolls on the work-sheets may be regulatedto the particular stock being written on. The lateral pull requiredtoflatten a heavy card might, for instance, tear or distort a sheet oflight or flimsy material. Hence, the desirability of such regulatingmeans.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, hereinafter described indetail, the rolls are caused to draw laterally on the paper by havingtheir axes of rotation set obliquely to the direction of feed of the paper, instead of, as heretofore, parallel to the axis of the platen; andthe desired adjust-- ment of the lateral pull of the rolls on the paperis effected by changing the angle of the rolls to the platen; thelateral pull being nil when the rolls are parallel to the platen, andincreasing in strength as the angle of the rolls to the platen isincreased.

Features of the invention are the provision of simple and effectivemeans for swinging and locking the rolls; of means for determining theparallel position of the rolls with respect to the platen and preventingan accidental angular setting thereof which would cause the paper to becrowded or crumpled, instead of flattened, between the same; and ofmeans for determining the extreme angle beyond which the rolls cannot beswung without causing them to drag on the paper.

A feature of the present invention is the provision of means whereby therolls may have a play to and from the platen independently of, or withrespect to, the paperfingers; so that the rolls may have the desiredresiliency and certainty of action regardless of stiffness, or even ofinjury, of

the paper-fingers; and vice versa, so that the paper-fingers may be ofany required strength without regard to the resiliency required by therolls.

A feature of the invention is the provision of means for quickly,accurately, and detachably securing the rolls to the paper-fingers, andfor securing both of these parts to supporting brackets; not only forpurposes of assembly, but so that an injured or worn paper-finger orroll may be replaced without discarding the other of such parts.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a view in front elevation, showing a rotary platen and aframe therefor, and showing the paper-fingers of the present inventionin operative position with respect to the platen.

' Figure 2 is a view in side elevation, taken on the line 22 of Figure1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view showing in plan the mounting oftheroll on the left-hand paper-finger.

Figure 4 is a view in cross-section on the line 4:-4: of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawings, the platenframe consists of'side-pieces 10connected by rods 11 and 12, and having revo-lubly mounted thereon aplaten 13. The usual lower rear and front feed-rolls 14 and 15,

respectively, are indicated in dotted lines position in which it holdsthe paper'efinger:

in operative, paper-engaging position. The

paper-fingers are, however, ordinarilyadapted-to be thrown up, and awayfrom the platen, to an inoperative position, and, for this purpose, thearms or brackets 17 are pivotally connectedto the rod 11. For holdingthe brackets 17 in effective position, the rod 11 is splined at 18, anda lateral shelf or extension 19 carries a leaf-spring, not shown, which,in turn, carries a key, indicated at 20 in Figure 2, for engagement withthe spline in the rod 11. \Vhen the bracket is turned to the Figure 2position, the key 20 registers with the spline 18, and the leafspring,not shown, causes the key to enter the spline; and lock the bracket inits normal position. lVhen the arm or bracket 17 is thrown up to removethe paper-fingers from the platen, the leaf-spring, refererred to,permits the key 20 to be forced out of the spline-way 18, but it causesthe key thereafter to bearv uponthe rod 11 in such manner as to hold thebracket against accidental dis placement, with the paper-fingers ininoperative position. For throwing the bracket up and down with thepaper-finger, the bracket has at its forward end a finger-piece 21. The

connections of the bracket 17 tothe rod 11,

just described, are-those found on the Underwood standard typewritingmachine, and so are not more specifically illustrated.

For supporting the paper-finger on its respective bracket, the latter,at its forward end, has a laterally-offset arm or plate 24'.Eachpaper-finger 26 is-curved in general conformity to the curvature ofthe platen, but, at its upper end, has a fiat offset portion 27 which isadapted to be set'against the the back of the bracket-plate 24. Thepaperfinger is held to the bracket-plate 24 by means of screws 30, whichpass through the paper-finger and through the plate 24, and which threadinto a blockzor plate 31 behind the paper-finger.

As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the paperfingers 26 have lateral offsets32. Mounted to swing on a screw or pin'33, as a pivot, there is on eachpaper-finger, a finger or arm 34 carrying a roll 35; The roll 35 has itsshaft 36 revolubly mounted in ears "3'? which are shown as stamped andturned upward out of the material of the finger 34. Each paper-fingerhas, an arcuate' slot-38 struck frointhe pivot-point 33 as a center,through which slot the roll 35 is adapted to engage the platen. Behindthe pivot 33, each of the fingers 34 has an extension which is slottedat 39 also on an arc struck from the pivot'33 as a center. Threaded intoa boss 40 on the paper-finger, and extending through the slot 39 in theroll-carrying fin ger, is a thumb-screw 41,-bymeans of which theroll-carrying finger 34 may be locked in any angular position oradjustment to which it may have been turned on its pivot 33. Thepivot-pin or screw 33 is also preferably'threaded into a boss 42 carriedby the paper-finger; the bosses 40 and 42 being of the same height andhaving finished faces on which the roll-carrying arm moves.

Two stop-pins 43 and '44, carried by the paper-finger-QG, limit thethrow of the rollcarrying finger. When the roll-carrying finger34'abuts'the stop 43, the axis 36 of the roll '35 is parall'eltothe-axis 45 of the platen, and no lateral tensioning or pull onthe-paperis effecte'd bythe rolls. With the roll-carrying fingers 34 in anyposition between the stops 43 and 44,- other thanthe positionshown inFigure 3,:the rolls exert'a lateral outward pull on the paper, whichtends to flatten the-same against the platen; and 'the farther theroll-carrying fingers '34 areswung toward thestop 44,the stronger andmore e'ffective is this lateral pull. If the roll-carrying fingers '34were swung below the position defined by the stop 43, the tendency ofthe rolls would be to push the paper toward one another and crumple thesame, which would be undesirable. The steps 43, therefore, serveto=prevent any such accidental defective setting of the rolls. The steps'44 prevent the rolls from riding --up onto the fingers and out ofcontact with the platen beyond the-rear ends of the arcuate slots.

The angular position of the roll-carrying arms'willbe determined by theweight, quality, width and other characteristics of the stock of whichthe sheets are made. A lateral pull, sufiicient or desirable to hold asheet of heavy stock' fiat against the platen, might, for instance, teara lighter or more flimsy piece of paper. The desired setting of thefingers 34 may, however be readily determined in any particularinstance.

The paper-finger 26 and the roll carrying finger 34 are both shown as ofsheet-material, and will ordinarily be ,of resilient sheet-metal havinga set which tends to cause the rolls to'bear -with' the proper pressureupon the platen;

Ordinarily Where the rolls-aremounted directly upon the paperfingers,the resiliency of the latter is relied upon for the proper pressure ofthe rolls upon the platen. If-the stockof the paper-fingers issufiiciently light and flexible to provide this resiliency, the fingersmay easily be bent or otherwise injured, so as to be defective in theirfunction as paper-guides. here, however, as in the present case, therolls are not directly SllPPOl-tGd fllPOIl the paper-fingers, but aresupported upon arms which are yieldable with respect to thepaper-finger-s, the paper-fingers may he comparatively stiff and strong,and the arms upon which the rolls are directly supported may be lookedto for the resiliency required of therolls. In the structure shown inthe drawings, the paper-fingers 26 may be of heavier or thickersheet-metal than the arms 84; the thickness ofthe arms 34 and the springset of the same being such as to result in a delicate spring action' ofthe rolls on the platen or paper.

The paper-lingers 26 are of a curvature which conforms in general to thecurvature of the platen. On the other hand; the path of movement of theroll-carrying arms 3-4:, more especially at the pivot-pins 33, issomewhat tangential to the surfaces of the supporting paper-fingers. It,therefore, the arms 34 moved in a simple plane when swung rearward ontheir pivots, the rolls might leave the platen or the pressure of thesame on the platen be undesirably relieved. If, however, theroll-carrying arms 3% be of the proper shape and flexibility and havethe proper spring set, they will follow the curvature of thepaper-fingers and will cause the rolls to continue to bear with theproper pressure upon the platen when swung rearward. The flat, thin,spring-metal arms 34, held to the paperfingers as indicated in thedrawings, will exert a proper pressure of the rolls on the platen in anyangular position to which the rolls may be swung.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, andportions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a typewriting machine, a rotary platen, marginal paper-fingers forguiding the paper around the platen, one at each side of the paper, anadjustably mounted roll connected to each finger for holding the paperto the platen, and means for setting the axes of the rolls obliquely tothe path of movement of the paper to cause the rolls to draw laterallyon the paper.

2. In a typewriting machine, a platen adapted to have line-spacemovement, a roll for holding paper to the platen, and adjustable meansfor setting the roll obliquely to the path of movement of the paper tocause the roll to draw laterally thereon.

3. In a typewriting machine, in combination with a platen adapted tohave line-space movement, a pressure roll adapted to ride on theplateinand a carrier for the roll angularly adjustable therewith tocause the roll to draw laterally on paper being fed over the platen.

4. In a. typewriting machine, in combination with a platen adapted tohave linespace movement,a pressure roll adaptedato ride on the platen,acarrier torv the roll angularly adjustable therewith; to cause the rollto draw. laterally on paper; being fed over the platen, a paper-guidingfinger on which the rolls-carrierwis pivoted, and; stops on-thefingerfor-limiting the angular throw of the roll-earrien.

5. In a typewriting machine, in combinationwith a platen adapted to havelinespace movement, a pressure roll adaptedv to ride on the platen, acarrier for therolli angularly adjustable therewith-to cause the rolltodraw laterally on. paper beingfed over theiplaten, a paper-guidingfingeron which the rolli-carrier is pivoted, and means fordeterminingposition of the roll-carrier in which the roll will -notdrawlater-ally on the paper.

6. In a typewriting machine, in combination with a platen adapted tohave linespace movement, a pressure roll adapted to ride on the platen,a carrier for the roll angularly adjustable therewith to cause the rollto draw laterally on paper being fed over the platen, a paper-guidingfinger on which the roll-carrier is pivoted, and means on thepaper-finger for locking the rollcarrier in adjusted position.

7. In a typewriting machine, in combination with a platen adapted tohave linespace movement, a pressure roll adapted to ride on the platen,a carrier for the roll angularly adjustable therewith to cause the rollto draw laterally on paper being fed over the platen, a paper-guidingfinger on which the roll-carrier is pivoted, and a screw on thepaper-finger operating through a slot in the roll-carrier for lockingthe latter in adjusted position.

8. In a typewriting machine, in combination with a platen adapted tohave 1inespace movement, a pressure roll adapted to ride on the platen,and an arm on which the roll is mounted; the arm being angularlyadjustable with the roll to cause the latter to draw laterally on paperbeing fed over the platen, and being of spring metal to cause the rollto bear resiliently on the platen. V

9. In a typewriting machine, in combination with a platen adapted tohave linespace movement, a pressure roll adapted to ride on the platen,an arm on which the roll is mounted; the arm being angularly adjustablewith the roll to cause the latter to draw laterally on paper being fedover the platen, and being of spring metal to cause the roll to bearresiliently on the platen, and a resilient sheet-metal paperguidingfinger on which the roll-carrying arm is pivoted.

10. In a typewriting machine, a rotary platen, a finger curved ingeneral conformitv with the curvature of the platen for guidlit) ingpaper across the printing line, an arm pivoted to the paper-guidingfinger in such manner that it may be swung forward and rearwardangularly over the platen, and a roll carried by. said arm to ride onthe platen; the arm being of a material and shape such that in allpositions thereof it will cause the roll to bear resiliently on theplaten.

11. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a cylindrical platen,of feedrolls engaging the side margins of a worksheet in the machine andoperated by the advance of the platen, said feed-rolls being constructedand mounted to have the portions of their peripheries in engagement withthe Work to travel outward When so operated to rub out-ward the sidemargins of the work-sheet, and so to spread and smooth the Work-sheet.

12. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a cylindrical platen,of cylindrical feed-rolls running upon and rotated by the platen toengage the opposite side margins of a work-sheet in the machine, saidfeed-rolls being mounted with their axes inclined upwardly and inwardly,the feed-rolls when rotated by the advance of the platen-drawingobliquely outward upon the work-sheet and spreading and smoothing it.

CHARLES HER-RMAN.

Witnesses BENJAMIN WARD, JOHN MACE, Jr.

